1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector including a body having a contact metal element fitted to the body and a lead wire electrically connected with the metal element. The invention relates also to a connector including a body having a plurality of contact metal elements fitted to the body. More particularly, the invention relates to a connector suitable for use in a compact apparatus such as a portable telephone having a body and a lid pivotably attached to the body via a hinge shaft, the connector being used for connecting an electric circuit mounted on the body with another electric circuit mounted on the lid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a compact apparatus such as a portable telephone shown in FIG. 15 including a body 41 and a lid 42 attached to the body to be pivotable relative thereto about a hinge shaft 43, for forming electric connection between a circuit board mounted on the body and another circuit board mounted on the lid, a lead wire 44 would be inserted through the hinge unit. However, this lead wire inserting operation would impede the automated assembly process, resulting in overall reduction of operational efficiency.
In view of the above, the prior art proposed use of a connector having a body which incorporates therein a contact metal element and also a lead wire electrically connected with the metal element, in an attempt to facilitate the assembly of the connector within the compact apparatus. However, if the electrical connection between the contact metal element and the lead wire is provided by means of crimping or soldering, the operational efficiency is low, leading to poor production efficiency. Further, since it is difficult to form compact the above connector incorporating a lead wire, the connector is unsuited for use in a compact apparatus such as a portable telephone. For these reasons, pressure welding is preferred for forming the above-mentioned electrical connection. With pressure welding, however, in general, the direction of insertion of the contact element is normal to the longitudinal direction of the lead wire. As a result, in association with pivotal movement of the hinge portion, the connector body housed within this hinge portion is rotated also about the rotational axis, this results in significant amount of rotational movement of the elongate portion of the lead wire. Then, if the leading end of the lead wire is fixedly attached to another circuit board by means of e.g. soldering, the lead wire will be subjected to excessive distortion or tension. Consequently, the lead wire may be broken or may provide undesirable resistance or hindrance to the pivotal movement of the hinge portion.
Further, in case a connector including a body having a plurality of contact metal elements fitted thereto is employed in the hinge portion in an attempt to avoid the trouble of inserting operation of the lead wire, if the electrical connection between the contact elements and the lead wires for connection to the circuit board is to be provided by means of surface mounting or insertion mounting, the efficiency of the fixing operation thereof by soldering or the like is also low, thus inviting reduction in the overall production efficiency. Further, the greater the number of the contact elements, the greater the degree of resultant deterioration in the operational efficiency, since each and every element requires such fixing operation. Accordingly, if such connector is to be used within the hinge portion, consideration needs to be given to provide easy and reliable electrical connection between the contact metal elements and the circuit board so as to facilitate the mounting operation of the connector in a compact apparatus and assembly operation of the same.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described drawbacks of the prior art. According a first characterizing feature of the present invention, there is provided a connector including a body, at least one contact metal element inserted and fitted along a direction in the body, and a lead wire having one end portion thereof inserted into an opening of the body along a further direction different from the inserting direction of the contact element, wherein the one end portion of the lead wire inserted in the body is laterally pressed and contacted by a leading end of the contact metal element to be electrically connected therewith, and the other portion of the lead wire not inserted in the body is bent at said opening to said inserting direction of the contact element, with said bent portion of the lead wire being retained by a lead wire retaining portion of the body.
With the above feature, the electrical connection between the contact element and the lead wire is established as the leading end of the contact element, when inserted into the body, comes into pressure contact laterally with the lead wire portion which is also inserted in the body. Accordingly, the assembly operation is easy. In addition, the remaining elongate portion of the lead wire which is not inserted in the body is adapted to extend parallel with the inserting direction of the contact element. With this, when the connector is fitted within a hinge portion of a compact apparatus such as a portable telephone in such a manner that the connector is pivotable therein about the rotational axis along the inserting direction of the contact element in association with a pivotal movement of the hinge portion, this results only in slight twisting movement of the non-inserted portion of the lead wire about the rotational axis, rather than significant amount of rotational displacement thereof. As a result, the above-described trouble of excessive bending or tension of the lead wire leading eventually to breakage thereof may be avoided. Hence, there has been provided a connector with high reliability.
Preferably, in the connector described above, the body includes, in a front face thereof, an engaging portion for engagement with an engaged portion of a further connector to be connected with said connector, the engagement establishing rotational asymmetry between said connector and said further connector relative to a rotational axis extending along a direction in which the two connectors face each other.
When a plurality of contact elements are disposed in rotational symmetric relation, for instance, when two contact elements are disposed at rotationally symmetric positions 180 degree phase apart from each other, the above construction having such engaged portion may preclude the possibility of erroneous engagement between the two connectors, by assisting in proper connection between each element of the connector with a corresponding element of the other connector.
According to a second feature of the present invention, there is provided a connector comprising a body, and a plurality of contact metal elements inserted and fitted in the body, wherein one-side ends of the contact element project respectively from a front face of the body in a first direction facing the front face and the other-side ends of said contact elements extend parallel with each other relative to said first direction and along an outer peripheral side face of the body in a second direction normal to said first direction, with forming a gap of a predetermined distance between all said other-side ends of the contact elements and said outer peripheral side face.
With the above feature, an FPC (flexible punted circuit) having a thickness adapted for said gap may be press-fitted into the gap from the second direction along the extending direction of the other-side ends of the contact elements, so that the respective other-side ends and the FPC to be electrically connected with the circuit board may be reliably fixed to each other without mutual displacement therebetween. Accordingly, the connecting operation between each other-side end and a corresponding terminal of the FPC may be facilitated significantly. Also, production of defect product due to defective soldering, short-circuit between the terminals or the like may be avoided advantageously.
Further, as the projecting direction (the first direction) of one-side end of the contact element is normal to the press-fitting direction (the second direction) of the FPC, when this connector is disposed within the hinge portion with aligning the hinge axis with the first direction, the FPC may be press-fitted into the gap in the direction normal to the hinge axis, i.e. the direction where the circuit board exists. Hence, this press-fitting operation may be effected with ease.
Preferably, in the connector described above, the other-side end of each said contact element forms, on an inner face thereof, a projection projecting toward said outer peripheral side face.
With formation of such projection, when the FPC is press-fitted into the gap, the terminal on the FPC and the projection may be contacted in a stable and reliable manner, thereby to assure sufficient electrical connection therebetween without soldering. Moreover, one time press-fitting operation may establish a plurality of electrical connections. As a result, the overall operational efficiency may be further improved.
In the connector having the above construction, preferably, one of the contact elements whose other-side end is located farthest from the front face of the body includes a bent portion formed by bending all or a portion of side portion of the other-side end remote from the front face of the body toward the outer peripheral side face.
The above-described bent portion serves to restrict displacement of the press-fitted FPC in the opposite direction to the first direction. The fixation and positioning between each other-side end and the terminal on the FPC may be rendered more reliable, consequently providing greater reliability in the electrical connection therebetween and still further improvement in the operational efficiency and the product quality.
Preferably, in the connector having the above construction, the body includes, in a front face thereof, an engaging portion for engagement with an engaged portion of a further connector to be connected with said connector, the engagement establishing asymmetry between said connector and said further connector relative to a rotational axis extending along a plane facing said further connector.
With the above feature, the mechanical connection between the connector and the other connector is provided not only by the contact elements of the two connectors but also by their bodies through the engagement between the engaging portion and the engaged portion thereof. As a result, when an external force such a twisting force is applied between the connectors, such external force may be effectively absorbed by the connector bodies, so as to prevent deformation of the contact elements, especially deformation of one-side end of each element projecting from the front face of the body. Hence, problem of mal-connection due to deformation may be avoided advantageously.
Moreover, when a plurality of contact elements are disposed in rotational symmetric arrangement on the front face of the body, for instance, two contact elements are disposed at rotational symmetric positions 180 degrees apart from each other, the above asymmetric arrangement may preclude the possibility of erroneous engagement between the two connectors, by assisting in proper connection between each element of the connector with a corresponding element of the other connector.
Further and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of he preferred embodiments thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.